A friend brought me a so-called "White Ginger" root from an airport store in Hawaii. It has done very well in pots, outdoors in the summer, and indoors in the winter. The roots look and smell like the ginger I buy to eat. Is this ginger edible as well?

UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research Friends of the Garden

Join Date: Mar 2002

Location: Vancouver, BC

Posts: 354

White Ginger: Is it edible?

Without knowing the botanical name of the plant that you purchased from Hawaii, it is difficult to give you a definitive answer regarding the safety in eating the roots. The plant you have may be hedychium coronarium (white Ginger or Butterfly Lily or Garland flower) for future reference.

UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research Friends of the Garden

Join Date: Mar 2002

Location: Vancouver, BC

Posts: 354

edible

Well I haven't been able to find anything toxic in the Hedychium genus, but you should always take great care to find out if your plant is the rare exception! I found a site that saysH. coronarium has "snow white insides of the edible, spicy tubers (not the ginger of commerce, which is Zingiber officinale)." http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/c...ls/Hedycco.htm and as this is a university (NC State) site I think this information can be trusted. You could try to look up any other plant you are interested in there as well.